Is "iTalk" The Next Big Digital Hub Software?
Here's what PowerbookZone quotes him as saying at the Shareholder (ok, Stockholder) meeting:
When asked about videoconferencing, Jobs ripped on all the current options out there and said "stay tuned," so there may be an iConference or iTalk in the future.
When asked about videoconferencing, Jobs ripped on all the current options out there and said "stay tuned," so there may be an iConference or iTalk in the future.
Comments
Heck no. Communication is way more relevant to the general population than being able to catalog their digital camera photos or export their DV clips. Come on.
As far as the name... 'iTunes' was okay, but iTalk is a bit cheesy and overdone, though. And Apple does hold some kind of rights for "iPhone," so who knows. iPhone isn't so bad, it's sort of.. common, instead of just hackneyed, kinda like iPhoto. So, yeah, names are stupid to argue about, but I'll turn in my vote that it'll be iPhone if anything.
I'd like to see:
- Voice streaming over the internet?
- Video as well, for real videoconferencing
- An easy to use implementation of QTSS, so I could like give 4 or 5 or a few dozen friends a live peep show
- IP telephony stuff (like Cisco is doing)
- PBX support? maybe this would be good for small businesses, mid-sized businesses, lawyers (they are 25% Macs..) or even large ones. Perhaps this could be a feature of a more pro/business oriented version, like PowerPhone Pro or something (heh)
- Caller ID.. it would be downright neat (and not to mention, useful
- Answering machine/voice mail? It couldn't be TOO hard to make your Mac record and store voice messages... and you could even set it up to have multiple mailboxes for family members, like "press 1 for the business, 2 for mom, 3 for dad, 4 for the kids, or hold on the line and we'll continue to ring you or you can leave a message," etc.
- White and yellow pages lookups
- Integration with address book and whatnot, syncing with Palm, Entourage..
- Solicited call hangup, like some Telephone companies are offering ("Hang up now if you're a solicitor" etc), or that "TeleZapper" thing I've seen on TV can do
- iPhone Visuals? <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
[ 04-26-2002: Message edited by: bradbower ]</p>
<strong>Answering machine/voice mail? It couldn't be TOO hard to make your Mac record and store voice messages... and you could even set it up to have multiple mailboxes for family members, like "press 1 for the business, 2 for mom, 3 for dad, 4 for the kids, or hold on the line and we'll continue to ring you or you can leave a message," etc.
</strong><hr></blockquote>
Apple used to have a piece of software which did this. I can't remember what it was called but it came bundled with my Performa 5200. Apple Telecom sticks in my head, anyone else remember??
J :cool:
<strong>I think an instant messenger is much more likely at this point. They're really popular, and there isn't a standout from the crowd oin the Mac side currently. The trick (as always) would be compatibility with AOL, Messenger, etc. Perhaps video will be added to it at some point in the future.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Apple licensed AOL Instant Messenger in 1999. It;s on the Apple News site somewhere
[ 04-26-2002: Message edited by: sjpsu ]</p>
<strong>[AIM clients...] They're really popular, and there isn't a standout from the crowd oin the Mac side currently.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Ever tried <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/adamiser/Adium/"; target="_blank">Adium</a>? It's the best client I've ever used on any Mac OS, Windows, or *nix. Beautiful, highly customizable, fast, works great, and it lacks all of the crap that ruins the AIM experience in the first place.
[ 04-28-2002: Message edited by: bradbower ]</p>
iChat- compatible with all IM services (AIM, MSN, ICQ, IRC, Yahoo etc.) Just put in the user name and select their service and you're done(ala Adium). Obviously UI consistency for all the different IM types. Now, on to the interesting stuff. Audio- using VoIP make calls to any other iChat or VoIP compatible software, Mac and PC alike. Also make free calls to normal phones using Apple servers placed all around the world! Basically, call anyone for free in the world! Video- must comply with H.232 or whatever Microsoft standard it is, so program can be used with Net Meeting. Have it compatible with MPEG4 for higher quality. Make available a quicktime MPEG 4 plugin for Netmeeting so PC users can use this technology too. Also, make it easy to manage people. Sync it with Datebook. For example in a list you'll see the name "John Smith" click his name and pops up his, email, AIM name, ICQ name, phone number, IP address to video conference etc. Make it easy to store all the various numbers and IDs of a person together.People are managed using their real names for a change!
So what does this app do that others don't? Apples ease of use. Make a simple elegant interface similar to iTunes, IPhoto etc. Make it easy to IM, to VoIP phone and video conference. Make it free! I think the Audio visual features would blow the competition away. I really think VoIP is cool and Apple could potentially implement it very well.What do you think?
I would be absolutely THRILLED if Apple offered some sort of Telephony product... I too would love to use my Mac as an answering machine/caller ID box.
I had my old IIvx as a voice mail system way back... would LOVE to be able to take calls, view caller IDs, manage multiple voice-mail boxes... all from OSX.
*sigh* - for now, I can just dream and cross my fingers.
Now, this would be great, because of how it could expand iTools and other functionality on the Mac. Websharing, iPhoto and iMovie could offer the choice of publishing to your iDisk for webserving (www.username.mac.com) or webserving directly from your local Apache install (e.g. <a href="http://www.username.local.mac.com)." target="_blank">www.username.local.mac.com).</a> Also, this could allow a user to always be able to SSH or FTP into their home machine without having to know their current IP address (e.g. ssh username.mac.com, would automatically get sent to your machine's current IP address) which can be a problem seeing as some broadband ISPs change your IP address every couple of hours or so. Other 3rd party apps, such as Hotline and other sharing or messageboard-type apps, could potentially even tie into this service.
In short, it would allow for a much higher level of web-integration without having to puchase a static IP address or other webhosting services.
And, anyway, why would you want PAX support? I mean, come on, does anyone really need reruns of Diagnosis Murder and Dr. Quinn filling up their hard drives?
Edit: Oops, I guess it was PBX support you were asking for... makes more sense maybe.
[ 05-02-2002: Message edited by: Reid ]</p>
<strong>
And, anyway, why would you want PAX support? I mean, come on, does anyone really need reruns of Diagnosis Murder and Dr. Quinn filling up their hard drives?
Edit: Oops, I guess it was PBX support you were asking for... makes more sense maybe.
</strong><hr></blockquote>
lol!!!
But seriously,
I know that Apple prolly won't/can't release an IM app that supports ICQ/AIM/MSN/Yahoo/Jabber because do you realise how many and frequently updates would have to be put out? And why would Apple want to support just part of the features all the Windoze versions support? (not all can be implemented/would take a long time to develop/implement, remember they are different on each service) then to roll it all into one app that has a consistant interface. I don't think so
If anything it would be for one service or an iTools service that only iTools users could use.
That or an iPhone video chat program.
-Owl
[ 05-03-2002: Message edited by: Owl Boy ]</p>
The major catch was that it did most of tese things AT THE SAME TIME... and all in hardware which was, at the time, far less versatile than what we have today.
The demo I saw had a person holding a video confrence with two other people on a split screen (It could handle five at the most, but you wuld never see yourself on screen). At the same time you could do something similar to instant messaging. And send files (pictures and audio) In the demo it was a design tem, with someone describing something to someone else, who was acting as a sounding board, and another person who was taking the shared preliminary sketches and doing more professional illustration, and acting like a devils advocate...
Oh yeah, the illustrator was in the main auditorium, another was in a different building on campus, and the third was at the company headquarters, somewhere in the states. (The demo was given at Mount Royal College in Calgary, Alberta)
Granted, the main limitation was that you could only do it with people who had the same hardware... But the possibility was there...
Now, it wouldn't be necessary for this level of communication to be included free with every mac, but it would certainly be interesting if the basic building blocks was included in the operating system, and modules added as you wanted.
My favorite would be the answering machine, with video, available to people who are trying to reach me over the internet or over normal phone lines. Not to mention the fun of designing my own 'teproarily out of service' screens... And messages...
So... fax, auto email attachment, video and audio, telephony and video/audio answering machine capability.
In case you are wondering, I believe the company who designed this product was GVP...
I wonder where they are today?
<strong>I think an instant messenger is much more likely at this point. They're really popular, and there isn't a standout from the crowd oin the Mac side currently. The trick (as always) would be compatibility with AOL, Messenger, etc. Perhaps video will be added to it at some point in the future.</strong><hr></blockquote>
YOU NAILED IT!
<strong>YOU NAILED IT!</strong><hr></blockquote>Lol... <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
That instantly made me think of <a href="http://brad.project-think.com/movies/TheVillageIdiot.mov"; target="_blank">this</a>.